Bison running back Anthony Coombs selected World Team MVP as the IFAF Team World defeats Team USA

Posted Thursday, February 2, 2012 11:58 AM

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) World Team defeated the U.S. Under-19 National Team by a 35-29 score in USA Football’s third annual International Bowl on February 1 in Austin, TX.

A major contributor to the victory was Manitoba Bisons rookie running back Anthony Coombs as he was named World Team MVP for his performance. The 19 year old accumulated a game-high 147 rushing yards on 14 carries and also scored two touchdowns. The Winnipeg native scored two rushing touchdowns (first was 19 yards) with the longest on a 62 yard TD run to push the World lead to 35-16 at the start of the fourth quarter before a late rally by Team USA.

Coombs commented to USA Football after the contest, “We’ve been working so hard for this all week, and it paid off with the victory. People don’t think anyone can play outside of the United States. This is going to make the U.S. take this event more seriously, and it’s also going to inspire tons of little kids around the world. It feels great that we did this.”

The game marked Team USA’s first loss in international competition at the senior or junior level, including the 2007 and 2011 IFAF Senior World championships, the 2009 U-19 IFAF World Championship and two previous International Bowls.

Bison Evan Gill, 19, also played at defensive end position for the victorious World Team.

The IFAF World roster featured players from nine IFAF member federations - American Samoa, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain and Sweden.

In the United States and Canada, fans will be able to view the replay of the International Bowl game on Saturday, February 4, 2012 on USA Football’s website (www.usafootball.com/InternationalBowl ).